If you're still using Microsoft Access 2003, MS Access 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 will let you create applications with
features that were impossible or cumbersome to provide in prior versions.

As power users and MS Access developers, it's critical that we understand the new features and how they give ourselves and our users
advances at little to no cost. Hopefully, you'll find it easy to justify migrating to Access 2007/2010/2013/2016. After all, people don't want change just for
technology's sake. They want some real productivity gains.

In this paper, we outline some of the top features we enjoy from Access 2007/2010/2013/2016 that couldn't be easily done in Access 2003. But before
we start, here are some reasons why the transition feels painful.

Complaints about the Access/Office ribbon and
how difficult it is to find things is universal. It is initially
confusing to find features I knew in the menus but couldn't find
on the ribbons. It was a real productivity drain and very frustrating. But
over time, I understood the philosophy behind the new organization
and eventually found what I needed.

Complaints about the database container replaced by the
Navigation Pane is also common. There are definitely lost features with
the new Navigation Pane that I dislike:

Not being able to see a list of object sorted by modified date the way you'd expect in Windows Explorer.

Losing the one-click Alt+D to put the current object in design mode

Losing the toolbar item to automatically jump to a form or report's module code

Missing right mouse click items like import/export

Complaints about losing custom command bars (toolbars) with the new ribbons. Yup, this is a significant loss. No arguments here.

Complaints about losing the Windows menu to select from the list of opened objects. Yup, that's gone too.

Many features were deprecated in Access 2013 including support for ADPs, pivot tables and pivot charts. If these are issues, stick with
Access 2010. See our Microsoft Access Versions page for more details.

Although there are some changes I would have preferred not to
see, there are many more steps forwards than backwards. And in many cases, the
backwards steps required retraining myself, while the forward steps improve the
users of the Access databases. That's a price I'm willing to pay.

Why do we bother to create applications on Microsoft Access
instead of another platform like .NET, Java, or Visual Basic 6?

One of the important concepts for using MS Access is that our
applications take advantage of the features of the underlying Access product.
While we customize the tables, queries, forms, reports, code, etc. to create our
solution, we don't worry about all the features Access provides.

Therefore, when Microsoft upgrades Access, all our Access
databases inherit those new features at little to no cost. We do ourselves and
our users and customers a disservice when we have the opportunity to provide these new features but don't.

Over time, our Access databases often represent investments of
$10K, $100K, or $1M+, so adding significant new features by moving to a new
platform, is a very low cost investment for a very valuable solution. Features
that were previously too expensive or impossible, all of a sudden become cost
effective. The result is a tremendous boost in functionality and productivity by upgrading.

Cool New Features I Couldn't Do in Access 2003

Here are some things that I've found valuable which are very easy to do in
Access now that were nearly impossible to do in earlier versions:

The new Report View feature (unlike Print Preview) lets users perform ad hoc
filters on a report similar to the way they can filter forms. For instance, you
can filter on a specific column value or words that begin with or contain certain letters, a date range, etc.

The result is the report showing what the user wants to see, with summaries
automatically recalculated. This requires no programming on your behalf, just
opening the report in this new format rather than Print Preview.

Report View has some limitations such as its lack of support for code that
adjusts displays and calculations in the Detail event, but for most reports,
this works great and eliminates the need to create a bunch of individual reports
for users or an ad hoc data filter system. This empowers end users and reduces the developer's work.

Easily add a total row to sum or count numeric fields in datasheets. The
summary automatically respects any filter on the list and appears exactly where
users expect.

Simply click on the Totals item on the Records ribbon. That creates a Total
row in your datasheet where you can specify the type of summary you want for
each column:

Add a Summary Row to Datasheets

Prior to this, you could show a subform's totals in the parent form by
referencing a calculated summary control in the subform's footer, but it
wouldn't be right in the column of the datasheet. The Totals data sticks with
the column so if the column is resized or moved, it remains with it. This
feature also works for datasheet views of tables, queries, and forms.

PDF output significantly extends Access applications. While there
were ways to do this before by adding a PDF printer, having it integrated as
another output type is a great addition and makes it easy to distribute your reports via email.

For all the features we lost with the elimination of the Database Container,
the Search Bar on the navigation pane makes up for a lot of it.

With the database container, Access users were trained to look for a particular item in a grid or location by type. Trying to do that in the
Navigation Pane is nearly impossible if there are large numbers of objects. This is why existing Access users get so frustrated.

In Access now, a different approach is necessary for finding your object. Rather than visually finding it, enter some letters of the object name in the
Search Bar, and the list of objects gets filtered to just those names. This makes it very easy to find objects by name -- especially text within an object
name -- that wasn't possible before. Once you are used to this, it's very difficult to go back.

Use the Search Bar in Microsoft Access 2007

You need to set the view to All Object Types if you want to see it across object types.

Why Access doesn't automatically default the Navigation Pane to show the
Search Bar and all object types is beyond me, but that's easily set and if it's
too frustrating, it's good to create a database with all the setting you like
then copy that every time you want a new database.

As long as filtering is allowed, your datasheets have a dropdown on the
column header to let users see a list of values and select one or a subsets to
view. There's no longer a need to write a series of OR statements in SQL WHERE
clauses--users can just filter interactively.

This is a very nice feature that never existed before. It can even eliminate
the need to run a query to show the unique values in a field.

You can now specify trusted locations (folders) to avoid the security
warnings when opening a database stored in those locations. A trusted location
can be for a folder and its subfolders. Any Access database stored there is
automatically considered trusted and the user does not have to approve the
running of your module code.

This is set under Access Options, Trust Center. Press the Trust Center
Settings button and choose Trusted Locations to add your folders.

Previously, an image control was used by setting its Picture property by selecting a graphic file from disk.
In Access 2007, the image control has a ControlSource property, so it lets you reference a field in the data
source similar to a text box. Easily display images from your table.

These are just some of the new Access features I find compelling and nearly impossible to do in Access 2003. Some of these cannot be implemented
if you still need to support users with Access 2003, but many can and will have those features if your user runs Access 2016, 2013, 2010 or 2007. Allen
Browne has also compiled a detailed list of Access 2007 enhancements. With the
free runtime version of Microsoft Access, cost should not be an issue for people needing Access 2007
or later to use your databases.

I realize my enthusiasm for Access 2007 may not be shared by all, so here are a few thoughts if you encounter resistance.

People Dislike Change

Most people dislike change. When it comes to migrating to new
technology, people want to be convinced the new features are worth the
hassle. This applies to developers and end users.

If people don't adopt new technology, that's fine, but they should
understand what they're missing. They may end up spending more time and
money trying to implement complex features, when it'd be available in
the new platform automatically. Of course, this is not unique to Access.

Be a Technology Thought Leader

This is your opportunity to be a technology thought leader rather than
follower. Products go in cycles, and Microsoft Access 2007 was an
opportunity to adopt a new approach and leapfrog past versions.

It offers many advances to let you deliver solid productivity gains
at less cost to your users. It's critical that advanced Access users and
developers familiarize themselves with the new features to educate
others on upgrading, and not get passed by when others learn it. To the
dismay of many, ribbons were added in Office 2007 and are not going away.
That's not a reason to stay.

Leverage Your Existing Investment in Microsoft Access

One of the most important benefits of creating solutions on top of a full
featured platform like Access is when the underlying technology is enhanced, a
variety of features can be added for little or no cost. We owe it to our users
and ourselves to take advantage of these advances. It also gives us as Access
developers a competitive advantage over other technologies.